{"id":64142,"date":"2012-12-11T10:52:36","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T10:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=64142"},"modified":"2012-12-12T19:03:31","modified_gmt":"2012-12-12T19:03:31","slug":"ranil-bemoans-cjs-impeachment-warns-sl-could-lose-commonwealth-membership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranil-bemoans-cjs-impeachment-warns-sl-could-lose-commonwealth-membership\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranil Bemoans CJ\u2019s Impeachment; Warns SL Could Lose Commonwealth Membership"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Dharisha+Bastians&amp;x=15&amp;y=1\">Dharisha Bastians<\/a><\/span> &#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The dubious procedure adopted to impeach the country\u2019s <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Shirani+Bandaranayake&amp;x=12&amp;y=6\">Chief Justice<\/a><\/span> may cost Sri Lanka its membership in the Commonwealth of Nations, Opposition Leader <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Ranil+Wickremesinghe&amp;x=16&amp;y=8\">Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/a><\/span> warned yesterday.\u00a0 The Opposition Leader was speaking at a seminar entitled \u2018The People\u2019s Sovereignty and Human Rights\u2019 organised by the Platform for Freedom, a coalition of civil society organisations, to mark the 64th International Human Rights Day on 10 December. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_61439\" style=\"width: 269px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-neither-cbk-nor-kadirgamar-would-be-acceptable-to-the-ltte-ranil-to-us\/ranil-wickremesinghe-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-61439\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-61439\" class=\"size-full wp-image-61439\" title=\"Ranil-Wickremesinghe\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Ranil-Wickremesinghe.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"259\" height=\"194\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-61439\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ranil<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Wickremesinghe said that at the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Commonwealth+Heads+of+Government&amp;x=12&amp;y=3\">Commonwealth Heads of Government<\/a><\/span> Meeting in 2003, the Latimer House Principles were adopted in collaboration with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association.<br \/>\n\u201cThese principles clearly stipulate that judges in Commonwealth nations must be removed in a process that is independent and impartial. As a Commonwealth member state we are bound by these collective commitments,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>The UNP Leader said that before the Parliament debates the motion of impeachment in early 2013, the Speaker must declare whether the impeachment process of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake has been conducted in adherence to the Latimer House Guidelines for the removal of a judge.<\/p>\n<p>He said that Government members of the PSC had treated the Chief Justice very poorly during the proceedings. \u201cTheir treatment was not in keeping with the dignity due to her office,\u201d the UNP Leader added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the end, not only will the Chief Justice get impeached, Sri Lanka will lose her place in the Commonwealth,\u201d Wickremesinghe charged. \u201cWe became members of the Commonwealth before we even joined the UN. Now we\u2019re in trouble at the UN. Are we trying to create problems for ourselves in the Commonwealth as well?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Referring to the private member\u2019s bill introduced by UNP MP and Bar Association President, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, which sets out a procedure for removing judges, by an independent tribunal of three judges from Commonwealth countries, Wickremesinghe said the only way to remedy the situation was to endorse it as an urgent bill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Opposition will endorse and pass the bill without debate. Then the process can be conducted fairly. That is the only way out of this mess,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Wickremesinghe went on to say that the Government members on the Parliamentary Select Committee had hurriedly called over 30 witnesses late at night, after the Opposition members on the Committee quit in protest at the unfairness of the proceedings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis report should enter the Guinness Book of Records for the fastest select committee report ever presented before a parliament,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n<p>Courtesy Daily FT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":61439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2187,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-most-popular","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ranil Bemoans CJ\u2019s Impeachment; 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